We all probably go through phases in life when we ask ourselves what the purpose of it all really is. What we get up for every morning. What we work for. What we love for. What we fight for.
This question rarely appears in the middle of an ordinary day. It usually comes when something begins to shift. When we question our career. When a relationship ends. When our children leave home. When someone we love dies.
It is often in times of change that we suddenly see what we have built our lives upon.
I know this question about purpose well. It has returned to me again and again throughout my life. And just as often, I pushed it aside because I couldn't find answers that truly resonated with me.
Are we looking for purpose in the wrong place?
I still remember the time when many of my friends started families. One friend said to me, "I want children because I hope they will give my life a real sense of purpose."
That sentence stayed with me for a long time. Did I need children to come closer to my own purpose? I understood exactly what she meant. Raising children is a deeply meaningful calling. But one day children grow up. And with them, that life chapter changes too. Like everything else in life, it is temporary. That's why I never felt that the true purpose of my life could lie there alone.
Later I experienced something similar through my work in the social sector. For a long time, I felt a deep sense of purpose there as well. But this life task also changed over time.
And once again, the same question arose: What remains of my purpose when my life tasks change?
Many sources instead of one answer
Today, I no longer believe that there is one single purpose in life waiting to be discovered.
Some time ago, I heard Veit Lindau speak in a podcast about what he calls sources of purpose. The idea immediately resonated with me. Suddenly, purpose no longer had to come from one great mission. It could grow from many different areas of my life.
Sometimes I find purpose in a deep conversation with another person. Sometimes in nature or while exercising. On other days, during meditation or while laughing with friends. And again and again, when I learn something new and grow through it.
Veit Lindau describes these as different sources of purpose: relationships, meaningful work, physical well-being, creativity, nature, community, spirituality, play and joy, as well as learning and personal growth.
Ever since I came across this idea, my search for purpose has felt much lighter. I no longer need to find one final answer. Instead, I can nourish my life through many small sources. Each one makes my foundation a little stronger.
I often see people whose entire sense of purpose depends on just one source. For some, it's their career. For others, their children. Or their sport. As long as that one source remains, everything seems fine. But when it disappears, life itself can begin to shake.
Today, purpose feels more like a table to me. If it stands on only one leg, it tips over easily. But with four or five legs, it remains stable even when one of them breaks.
The purpose that remains
More and more, I feel that while our life tasks can certainly express our purpose, there is something even deeper beneath them.
Too often I see how strongly we define ourselves through what we do, and in the process lose ourselves—and our lightness. We begin to take life and our tasks far too seriously. We suffer when goals aren't achieved or when life unfolds differently than we expected.
I often wonder whether we've forgotten that life isn't a competition. Some time ago, I came across a sentence that has stayed with me ever since: "You can't win the game of life. You can only play it."
Perhaps life isn't about achieving as much as possible or finding the perfect life mission. Perhaps it's about how we play.
With joy. With devotion. With calm.
To me, our tasks give life direction. They are allowed to change. Maybe they even have to. But the deeper purpose, I believe today, lies somewhere else. Within me - not outside of me.
Shi Heng Yi often asks a thought-provoking question. Why do we say:
My thoughts.
My feelings.
My body.
Who is this I that possesses all of these? That question has stayed with me. Because if I am not my thoughts, and I am not my feelings, then who am I?
Perhaps purpose begins exactly there - where we slowly begin to know ourselves beyond our roles, our thoughts, our conditioning, our bodies, and our tasks.
The more I sit with this question, the clearer one thing becomes: It isn't so much what we do that matters. It's how we do it.
How do I meet another person?
How do I respond to challenges?
How much love, attention and devotion do I bring to whatever I am doing right now?
Perhaps the very same task only becomes truly meaningful through the way we choose to live it.
A life task that never ends
Perhaps my true life task today is to understand my own mind a little better.
My fears.
My anger.
My restlessness.
My reactions.
Not to become perfect. But to no longer be ruled by them.
Every day offers new opportunities. Every encounter. Every conflict. Every challenge. Especially the difficult moments become places to practice. Not against life. But for greater calm. Greater clarity. Greater compassion.
A different question
I used to ask myself: What do I want from life?
Today, another question accompanies me: What wants to be expressed through me?
This question feels completely different. It shifts my attention away from what is still missing and toward what already lives within me.
My values.
My attitude.
My talents.
And the things I want to dedicate myself to with devotion. Today, purpose is no longer an answer for me. It is a way of moving through life. Not the what, but the how has become what truly matters.
Perhaps I can't win the game of life. But I can learn to play it with greater awareness, more lightness and more love.
Perhaps I will never fully understand the purpose of my life. But every morning I have the opportunity to bring new meaning to my life - through the way I meet it.
LUMA – It begins in you.
Mini Exercise
Take one minute today and simply pause.
Don't ask yourself: What do I need to do next?
Instead ask: How do I want to do the next thing?
Perhaps that one small question will already change the moment.
Reflection
Which task in your life currently gives you the greatest sense of purpose - and what would remain if it suddenly disappeared?